Sugar in fruit
mama222bfit
Posts: 24 Member
I seem to always exceed my sugar because of all the fruit I eat throughout the day. I am just wondering if the sugar in fruit counts the same as refined sugar when counting calories.
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Replies
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Don't worry about sugar unless you are diabetic. But to answer your question all sugar (sucrose, fructose, galactose, lactose) is eventually broken down to glucose.
Eat at a deficit. Log and weigh every thing. CICO.0 -
A calorie is a calorie for the purposes of maintaining a deficit to lose weight (or surplus to gain weight), so in theory it doesn't matter where it comes from (fats, proteins, carbs including sugar), BUT 100 calories from fruit will probably make you feel full for longer and definitely will have a load more other nutrients (fiber, vitamins, protein etc.) than 100 calories from something like soda. The fiber in fruit essentially slows down the absorption of the sugars in your body, and smooths any sugar/insulin spikes.
Fruit is also really tasty and especially when it's in season right now in the US, is one of life's pleasures IMO!0 -
Sugar is sugar. The body processes all carbohydrate to one thing...glucose. Whether it comes from the 'cleanest' most organic fruit on planet or a Caramel slathered brownie with a side of vanilla ice cream.
Mmmmmmm brownies..... and now I'm hungry lol0 -
mama222bfit wrote: »I seem to always exceed my sugar because of all the fruit I eat throughout the day. I am just wondering if the sugar in fruit counts the same as refined sugar when counting calories.
Yes it does. All sugar is a carbohydrate and has 4 calories per gram. The source does not matter.
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dopeysmelly wrote: »A calorie is a calorie for the purposes of maintaining a deficit to lose weight (or surplus to gain weight), so in theory it doesn't matter where it comes from (fats, proteins, carbs including sugar), BUT 100 calories from fruit will probably make you feel full for longer and definitely will have a load more other nutrients (fiber, vitamins, protein etc.) than 100 calories from something like soda. The fiber in fruit essentially slows down the absorption of the sugars in your body, and smooths any sugar/insulin spikes.
Fruit is also really tasty and especially when it's in season right now in the US, is one of life's pleasures IMO!
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dopeysmelly wrote: »A calorie is a calorie for the purposes of maintaining a deficit to lose weight (or surplus to gain weight), so in theory it doesn't matter where it comes from (fats, proteins, carbs including sugar), BUT 100 calories from fruit will probably make you feel full for longer and definitely will have a load more other nutrients (fiber, vitamins, protein etc.) than 100 calories from something like soda. The fiber in fruit essentially slows down the absorption of the sugars in your body, and smooths any sugar/insulin spikes.
Fruit is also really tasty and especially when it's in season right now in the US, is one of life's pleasures IMO!
This!
Strawberries blueberries peaches cheeries oh my.0 -
mama222bfit wrote: »I seem to always exceed my sugar because of all the fruit I eat throughout the day. I am just wondering if the sugar in fruit counts the same as refined sugar when counting calories.
Yes, for counting calories, they are the same.0 -
dopeysmelly wrote: »A calorie is a calorie for the purposes of maintaining a deficit to lose weight (or surplus to gain weight), so in theory it doesn't matter where it comes from (fats, proteins, carbs including sugar), BUT 100 calories from fruit will probably make you feel full for longer and definitely will have a load more other nutrients (fiber, vitamins, protein etc.) than 100 calories from something like soda. The fiber in fruit essentially slows down the absorption of the sugars in your body, and smooths any sugar/insulin spikes.
Fruit is also really tasty and especially when it's in season right now in the US, is one of life's pleasures IMO!
I also agree with this.
But to the specific question, OP, I think you are confusing the limit for various things like sugar with the calorie limit. You need to log fruit and their calories count just the same as everything else toward the calorie limit. The limits (and sometimes minimums) for other nutrients, like sugar, aren't about weight loss. They are intended to help you somewhat in making sure that you are getting a balanced diet or to reflect nutrition guidelines. In many cases there's no need to comply with them (for example, many people do low carb diets where they go way over the default fat recommendations and under the default carb recommendation). Personally, I'm always way over the default protein recommendation, since I think it's too low.
For sugar, most of the reputable recommendations are based on added sugar (i.e., not sugar from fruit, veggies, or dairy), but MFP can't use those, as food labels in the US don't normally distinguish between added and non-added sugar. So it has a recommendation based on those + an average amount of fruits and veggies and dairy, which can be easily blown past by those at a lower calorie level and who eat more than the average amount of fruits and veggies and dairy (or fruit in particular). If you look at the reasoning for the lower "added sugar" limits, it's basically to make sure you eat enough other foods with a variety of micronutrients (like, well, fruits and veggies) and don't go over your calories (which if you are counting, you will see if you do).
So that's my longwinded explanation for why I don't think you should worry about the sugar limit beyond making sure you aren't fooling yourself and eating lots more low nutrient foods than you realized and, of course, counting the calories in the fruit and staying within your calories.0 -
I think the answer is more complicated than just the 4 cal/gram assessment as how fruit gets metabolized is a big part of how your body reacts to ingestion and the hormonal levels that result. Here is a YouTube video that talks about the benefits of ingesting fruit (and even fruit juices) verses drinking sugared water (e.g. sodas).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHEJE6I-Yl4
Having said that, the nutritionist I went to recommended for me to lose weight faster to reduce my net sugar intake (including fruit) to 25g/day, independent of the number of calories I was consuming. I did have some success with that approach.0 -
thank you all!0
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sugar = sugar. the benefits of fruit are that you are getting a whole lot more other micro-nutrients as well.0
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Calorie wise it's the same, but nutritionally different.
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BILLBRYTAN wrote: »
No it doesn't. The source matters a great deal. Sugar accompanied by other nutrients is used by the body for energy and nutrition, ie your brain or muscles cannot work without sugar but other nutrients are needed to complete the chemical reaction. SUGAR separated from other nutrients is not used by the body but stored as fat and held in the blood to cause various problems such as diabetes. Any refining process which separates or isolates should be avoided because nutrients are designed to work together.mama222bfit wrote: »I seem to always exceed my sugar because of all the fruit I eat throughout the day. I am just wondering if the sugar in fruit counts the same as refined sugar when counting calories.
Yes it does. All sugar is a carbohydrate and has 4 calories per gram. The source does not matter.
You wanna provide a source for that, please?
~Lyssa0
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